AS APPLIED TO MAM 365 
an almost infinite complexity of molecular combinations, 
subject to definite changes under the stimuli of heat, 
moisture, light, electricity, and probably some unknown 
forces. But this greater and greater complexity, even 
if carried to an infinite extent, cannot, of itself, have 
- the slightest tendency to originate consciousness in such 
molecules or groups of molecules. If a material ele- 
ment, or a combination of a thousand material elements 
in a molecule, are alike unconscious, it is impossible 
for us to believe, that the mere addition of one, two, 
or a thousand other material elements to form a more 
complex molecule, could in any way tend to produce 
a self-conscious existence. The things are radically 
distinct. To say that mind is a product or function 
of protoplasm, or of its molecular changes, is to use 
words to which we can attach no clear conception. 
You cannot have, in the whole, what. does not exist 
in any of the parts; and those who argue thus should 
put forth a definite conception of matter, with clearly 
enunciated properties, and show, that the necessary 
result of a certain complex arrangement of the ele- 
‘ments or atoms of that matter, will be the production 
of self-consciousness. There is no escape from this 
dilemma,—either all matter is conscious, or conscious- 
ness is something distinct from matter, and in the 
latter case, its presence in material forms is a proof 
of the existence of conscious beings, outside of, and 
independent of, what we term matter. (Note B,) 
Matter is Force.—The foregoing considerations lead 
us to the very important conclusion, that matter is 
